A few years ago, I wasn’t surprised to hear rumors of a study of the nation’s prison population which reportedly found that the leading civilian occupation among inmates before they were put behind bars was “cook.” As most of us in the restaurant business know, there is a powerful strain of criminality in the industry, ranging from the dope-dealing busboy with beeper and cell phone to the restaurant owner who has two sets of accounting books.
I spent quite a few formative years working in food service/kitchen jobs and this is definitely something I noticed. I came up with a theory as to why, which I think is largely still true:
Preparing food is a “fast loop” activity. By this I mean that the amount of time it takes to go from putting in work to seeing a reward is fairly short, often only a few minutes. You see the efforts of your labor quickly, without needing to conceptualize the idea of receiving a reward at some unknown point in the future.
This makes it ideal for those with short attention spans, the type of people that do eat the marshmallow instead of waiting for a greater reward. [1.]
Adding a few more thoughts to this, because I didn’t want to imply that kitchen workers are all criminals with short attention spans:
I myself think I prefer the working style of fast loop jobs to that of typical office intellectual work. There is something much more real and rewarding about making a thing, from start to finish, in fifteen minutes or an hour. Unfortunately the modern white collar economy is not organized this way.
Brilliant early work from Bourdain that (I believe) launched his career, which was tragically cut short. Just last month, I feasted on bun cha next to the table in Hanoi where Obama and Bourdain ate in 2015. He was a global ambassador who united the world through our universal love of food, and really had an amazing impact bringing attention to all cultures and traditions.
It's also important to learn from Bourdain's life that even if someone's life looks perfect from the outside, you never know what people are going through. Everyone deserves empathy. And please, if you are suffering, remember that you are not alone and there are people who can help.
> Brilliant early work from Bourdain that (I believe) launched his career...
Indeed, Wikipedia agrees with you:
> In 1999, Bourdain's essay "Don't Eat Before Reading This" was published in The New Yorker. The essay, an unsolicited submission to the magazine, launched Bourdain's media career and served as the foundation for Kitchen Confidential. Released in 2000 to wide acclaim, the book is both a professional memoir and an unfiltered look at the less glamorous aspects of high-end restaurant kitchens, which he describes as unremittingly intense, unpleasant, hazardous, and staffed by misfits. Bourdain believes that the kitchen is no place for dilettantes or slackers and that only those with a masochistic dedication to cooking will remain undeterred.
That's my 2nd time reading this article (I'm sure its been posted to HN a few times) - and I'm just always impressed by Bourdain's writing style. It has a wonderful cadence and rhythm that just lends itself to being read.
Reminds you that its always good to be good at two things and bring them together. In this case he was sharp-witted and great at prose as well as being a celebrated chef. So why not host a show on food... Ultimately though, that may have been his undoing.
Bourdain was a gem. His style of writing reminds me of the beats...
It should be noted that Bourdain later walked back some of this advice years later -- as the population became more aware of what they eat, the industry adapted.
So a little-known fact about him is that he was in a way sort of a failed novelist. He would show up at his kitchens four hours early and plunk away at mystery novels, but of course it was Kitchen Confidential that took off and then carried him into teevee-land…
anyway, I once had the opportunity to talk with him at a Q&A, basically said that the shows were great and all, but what I really loved were his novels, and was he working on anything new? The look on his face, he just glowed. I think writing was his real passion, and the TV and travel stuff kind of derailed that.
Always loved Anthony Bourdain. He used to come down to the Cayman Islands at least once a year with other A-list chefs for a culinary festival. He'd hang out at my local beach bar. Always hoped to run into him there, but I missed him every year. Wasn't enough of a stan to go looking for him. Just wish I'd bumped into him and shared a beer.
Bourdain was awesome. His shows "No Reservations" and "Parts Unknown" are full of interesting, thought-provoking explorations of the culinary world, all over the world. I wish he were still around to share that with us.
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I spent quite a few formative years working in food service/kitchen jobs and this is definitely something I noticed. I came up with a theory as to why, which I think is largely still true:
Preparing food is a “fast loop” activity. By this I mean that the amount of time it takes to go from putting in work to seeing a reward is fairly short, often only a few minutes. You see the efforts of your labor quickly, without needing to conceptualize the idea of receiving a reward at some unknown point in the future.
This makes it ideal for those with short attention spans, the type of people that do eat the marshmallow instead of waiting for a greater reward. [1.]
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experimen...
I myself think I prefer the working style of fast loop jobs to that of typical office intellectual work. There is something much more real and rewarding about making a thing, from start to finish, in fifteen minutes or an hour. Unfortunately the modern white collar economy is not organized this way.
Any uneducated, not particularly bright person can start by washing the dishes, get promoted to serving them, etc.
Source: many years of working in restaurants.
It's also important to learn from Bourdain's life that even if someone's life looks perfect from the outside, you never know what people are going through. Everyone deserves empathy. And please, if you are suffering, remember that you are not alone and there are people who can help.
Indeed, Wikipedia agrees with you:
> In 1999, Bourdain's essay "Don't Eat Before Reading This" was published in The New Yorker. The essay, an unsolicited submission to the magazine, launched Bourdain's media career and served as the foundation for Kitchen Confidential. Released in 2000 to wide acclaim, the book is both a professional memoir and an unfiltered look at the less glamorous aspects of high-end restaurant kitchens, which he describes as unremittingly intense, unpleasant, hazardous, and staffed by misfits. Bourdain believes that the kitchen is no place for dilettantes or slackers and that only those with a masochistic dedication to cooking will remain undeterred.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Confidential_(book)
Reminds you that its always good to be good at two things and bring them together. In this case he was sharp-witted and great at prose as well as being a celebrated chef. So why not host a show on food... Ultimately though, that may have been his undoing.
Deleted Comment
It should be noted that Bourdain later walked back some of this advice years later -- as the population became more aware of what they eat, the industry adapted.
anyway, I once had the opportunity to talk with him at a Q&A, basically said that the shows were great and all, but what I really loved were his novels, and was he working on anything new? The look on his face, he just glowed. I think writing was his real passion, and the TV and travel stuff kind of derailed that.